As the winter progresses toward spring, organizers at the Haynes House of Hope comfort care home in South Granville say the project in progressing towards completion despite the recent economic downturn. Project manager Peter O’Brien said the effort has seen a flurry of recent donations including vinyl siding donated by St. Gobain.

O’Brien said the windows had all been installed by the crew of Steve Record, Tom Harris and Todd Smith of Mandy Spring Nursery, and exterior insulation completed, with work on plumbing and heating due next. Dwayne Daigle has agreed to donate his services as a plumber and Hometown Heating and Air Conditioning of Hampton have donated the labor on the heating system, he said.

Hudson Valley Electrical workers are set to get started after the heating and plumbing work conclude.

The company is sending three workers to Granville for three days to accomplish the electrical work, who will be housed at the Shaw’s Station House B&B.

The physical materials for that work, switches, wires, etc., were donated by Dave Colucci, a former Granville resident who now lives in Florida.

Looking over a list of just a few of the things donated towards the project, O’Brien said he was impressed.

“It’s incredible what these people have done, especially in these tough times,” he said.

President of the board of directors for the Haynes House of Hope, Crystal Everdyke echoed O’Brien.

“It really is amazing. It seems like we’ve gotten more done in three months than we have in three years, but I know it’s just an illusion because now there is something you can see,” Everdyke said. “It looks exactly the way I hoped, but even better.”

Despite the downturn in the economy during much of the establishment and construction of the Haynes House of Hope, Everdyke said donations to the effort, if anything, continue to pick up steam.

“I’m amazed, the farther we go along with this thing the more we receive. The more people see what’s going on, the more they want to get involved,” she said.

Everdyke said she gets stopped wherever she goes by people who either want to comment on their amazement at the progress of the project or give her contact information for volunteering after the construction is complete.

“The way I put it when I go out and talk to people is that: everything you need to run your house, we need to run ours. Whatever needs to be done at your house will need to be done there,” Everdyke said.

When the building is finally finished, all the way from the Ritchie Brothers Slate on the roof to the grass on the lawn, the task does not end, only changes, she said.

The Haynes House might organize a ‘shower’ of sorts, possibly to coincide with an open house to help furnish smaller household items for the house from kitchen and bathroom appliances to items such as bed linens.

“We will have wish list available all the time,” she said.

The list will contain everything from cleaning items and disposable items that will need to be restocked frequently to durable goods.

Everdyke said she thought people would be more likely to help out or donate to something they can see and understand after a walk through at an open house. Not seeing the Haynes House up and running hasn’t deterred others, however.

Everdyke said many volunteers are ready and waiting to help out with tasks like painting and wall papering or installing flooring.

“As soon as all of the technical work is done then we can start calling in all of these people who have expressed interest in helping us out,” she said.

Everdyke said the team has been working on tracking the dollar value of how much has been donated to the Haynes House in time and materials. A running list is maintained by Peter O’Brien and Pat Harrison; tracking donations of all kinds, especially hours. Those hours have value, Everdyke explained, and can be used to “pay” any required in-kind or matching funds required from grants. The list also helps those who volunteer their time such as contractors claim the value of the donation on their taxes.

“We really do have to keep track of donations that aren’t so concrete,” she said.